Chris Amirault

I'm enjoying my first Martinez a la Regan's Joy: 2 oz Tanqueray, 1 oz NP sweet vermouth, 1/4 oz Luxardo, 2 dashes Angostura. Amazing to think that the drink is over 100 years old.

I agree with Judy: I've haggled in other parts of the world, but here in New England, especially after a disastrously rainy spring, the last people in the world whom I want to give a hard time are the people who work so hard to bring such good food to my kitchen and table.

The knives are scalpel-y. ETA: Scalpelesque. I meant scalpelesque.

Folks, this topic is now running through the same set of arguments. Please post only if you have something new to contribute to the discussion of profanity in food writing. Thanks!

They really do look like Global flatware. I think I like 'em -- and the price is certainly right. How's the heft?

Mexican cuisine is hardly vegetarian, and some key flavor elements (from swine in particular!) would be missing, but I'd think that you could obtain quite a bit of tasty vegetarian variety with some planning. Of course, Mexico is the source of some of the finest bean cookery on the globe. I just had a dinner party last night for some folks who ate only fish, and (after considering Thai and Indian food) decided on fish and shrimp tacos. Having said that, if you remove the animals, what was left over was pretty swell: rice and beans, several kinds of salsa, cheese, crema, pickled onions, etc. all in corn tortillas (which sucked, but that's another story).

OK, I gotcha! Thanks. However, if you replace the disk with something that's sort of like partial or sloping cladding, you'd still have a ring of fire, albeit a less intense one, since the base thins out quite rapidly. (BTW, I was indeed talking about the Sitram Profisserie Sauté Pan, whose sides do precisely what your helpful diagram illustrates.)

I've been thinking more and more about this, got out a ruler, the whole nine yards. Here's the thing: the disk on the Sitram does go right to the edge -- of the flat surface of the bottom of the pan. However, the slope of the side of the pan, which starts immediately after the disk ends, extends the curved part of the base another cm or so away from the edge of the disk. And that is what produces the ring of fire to which Cook's refers. But I'm not sure I understand why this is a design flaw -- or (perhaps a bit less defensively), I can't really imagine what else could have been done that wouldn't have been a bigger design flaw. The Sitram pans put the bulk of their material in that big, thick disk; the sides are light and strong stainless. Save for total cladding, which would surely remove this pan from the bargain bin contest, the only way to solve this problem would require sides that form an immediate 90 degree angle instead of sloping up from the base, yes?

Have a party tonight at which I'll be serving the following salty dog: 2 oz anejo tequila (Sauza Conmemorativo I got on sale) 3/4 oz lime 3/4 oz ginger syrup 1t kosher salt Those four ingredients are the base that I'm bottling and chilling to be added in 4 oz pours atop ice, with glasses then filled with Polar Half & Half. I'll probably fiddle some more with this afterwards....

Welcome to the eG Forums, robertl234! I appreciate your posting on this subject. I haven't seen the article, but if what you've written is accurate, this complaint is a perfect example of why Cook's Illustrated doesn't make sense to me. There's no question that an All-Clad pan will not have the same "problem" with gas burners that is raised here about the Sitram pans, since, well, they're all clad. The sides of the pan are basically as thick as the bottom (I'm sure someone here can weigh in on that more precisely than I can at 6:45 am), so if the flame from the burner is extending up the sides of the pan, then you're likely to see scortching on the Sitram that you wouldn't see on the All-Clad. (This is not, of course, a problem with electric ranges, by the way.) But that raises the question: why exactly are the flames from the burner extending up the sides of the pan? Well, that's because you've either turned the burner up too high or you've got the pan on a burner that's the wrong size for the pan. No wonder they complained that the pan was too small as well! Once again, Cook's seems to be blaming equipment for human failure. Did they choose the right pan for the job? Sitram makes saute pans that range from 20-34 cm, so blaming the pan for being too small is just weird. Were they using the pan properly, putting it onto the burner, turning on the burner, and then waiting to bring the pan up to temperature? You don't need to blast the burner with quality pans, of course, because they're sufficiently well made to distribute the heat effectively. Finally, what is this "bargain" of which they speak? It may well be that I'm a bit biased (click here and especially here, where I mention getting used to using the pans with our new gas burners), but as far as I can tell, the pan they recommend at knifemerchant.com costs $140. That's hardly a "bargain," particularly considering my entire 11-piece Sitram set cost me $20 more at bridge -- and that I've seen those exact same sets at discount places like TJ Maxx for $100. I can live with the degradation of having chosen a "loser," robertl234. I encourage you to accept the black mark of shame from Cook's and stick with your plans to get the Sitram. And if that burning does occur, well, then you can pay penance and buy a can of Bar Keepers Friend with the money you've saved.

I've never been to Bella Vista -- I've heard nothing but bad reports from there from the start, but apparently it's under new management. Trinity Brewhouse is a solid option for good local microbrews and the standard beer chow options. My wife is a big fan of their nachos, for example.

Jason, what does it mean to say that each bowl is "cooked to order"?

Yes, I certainly have, and yes, it would seem!

But if I'm reading McGee's book and nathanm's post correctly, a "smoke ring" doesn't indicate that the smoke has penetrated. You can get what McGee calls "pink ring" without smoke (he mentions "poultry cooked in a gas oven," e.g.) and, as my Bradley has demonstrated, you can get smoke penetration without a pink ring. It's a completely different chemical process involving the gas produced from burning and not smoking organic compounds. Actually, it seems like "smoke ring" is a misnomer: it should be a "nitrogen dioxide ring," really. I guess that's why McGee calls it a "pink ring," and not a "smoke ring," eh?

In the interest of introducing a topic on the question of smoke rings, I've got a confession to make. I've been using my new Bradley smoker now for a while, and I'm currently at 188F with my third butt. Over in the "Behold My Butt!" topic, I posted about my first effort, and in response to these photographs, Ron posted this comment: I went back, looked at the photos, looked at the meat, and then posted this response about the "intensely thick pink smoke ring." Problem solved -- or, at the very least, avoided. I'm now convinced that I answered Ron's good question inaccurately, and it's been bugging me ever since. Pinkish tinge? Maybe. But "intensely thick pink smoke ring"? No way, bucko. (Sorry, Ron!) A month ago, I smoked butt #2 in the Bradley, and no amount of fiddling with my color perception allowed me to make the assertion above. The butt was a smoky, tender pile of porky love, but it had no pink smoke ring at all. Last night, when I was getting my Bradley going for the overnight smoke of butt the third, I grabbed the hotel pan I bought at a yard sale last week, filled it with water, and replaced the smaller water pan that came with the smoker. And then I had a thought about that pinkish tinge on #1. You see, the first time I smoked my butt, I had not kept a close eye on that water pan, and that meant that the smoking wood pucks (the "bisquettes," as they're called) would pile up in that pan and back up the entire line. That meant that individual pucks would sit too long (over the twenty minute limit) on the heating plate, unable to slide down into the full water pan. That is to say, that as each puck sat there an extra ten or fifteen minutes waiting for the others in the water pan to disintegrate it would burn and not merely smoke. My second time, I set the alarm twice during the night to dump the water pan out and make sure that there was no stacking of the smoldering pucks -- which had the effect of preventing any of the pucks from burning. Ditto last night: using that large hotel pan and plenty of water, none of the pucks stacked up, and that meant that all of them smoked for 20 minutes and none of them burned. Both times, my butt hasn't had even a tinge of pink on it, and when I pull this one later today, I'm very sure I won't find one inside. So, this morning, I woke up, had a bit of crow for breakfast, and grabbed Harold McGee. On page 149 of On Food and Cooking, McGee writes, This sent me to the eG Forums search engine, which lead me to nathanm's far more extensive explanation over in the "Anatomy of a Beef Brisket" topic (click here for the full post): So, it's clear that I was wrong in my response to Ron: this is indeed a feature of the Bradley system -- so long as you keep the pucks off the heating plate for the appropriate amount of time. (Even when they linger, however, the plates never burn at a high enough temperature to produce sufficient NO2 for a seriously pink ring.) It's also clear that, with a little help from some of the curing salts I've got, I could indeed create that ring. But that leaves the question that nathanm dangled: Is the smoke ring desirable? Why? Would curing produce a superior butt with the ring, or would the curing salts produce an undesirable effect? Purists, SSBs, and others, please weigh in!

As many of you know, the eGullet Society lost one of its own this week when host Matt Hassett passed away. Click here for the announcement. We're using this sad occasion to introduce a new feature of eG Forums: Member News. Click here for an overview of this new forum, which provides us with an opportunity to share our news and memories about the things we all care about: food, drink, cooking, and eating. A quick scan through for the list of posts that Matt wrote helps us to remember why he sparked such passion about food, drink, cooking and eating here at the eGullet Society. Indeed, his very last post, about a meal at Raoul's on July 30, is characterized by that passion and care. He closes by pointing out that "it helps to be good friends with the sommelier"; as many of us can testify, even the briefest meeting helped others become good friends with Matt. So, for the next week, we invite you to honor Matt's lasting presence on eG Forums and to share your remembrances here of Matt's love and appreciation for food and drink, cooking and eating. We also ask that you click here to send condolences to the family.

Welcome to the Member News forum! This forum provides us with an opportunity to share our news and memories about the things we all care about: food, drink, cooking, and eating. Announcements of food-related member news -- an IACP award, say, or a member's book-signing schedule -- will reside here. And when we're faced with the sad news that a member has passed away, this forum will be open for sharing our memories of that person's love and appreciation for food and drink. Members will be able to post to some of these topics, but all replies will require approval from a host. If you have food-related Member News that you'd like to share, please send a PM to Dave (Dave the Cook), Chris (chrisamirault), and Janet (JAZ), with detailed information about the news, links to appropriate websites, and how and where to send congratulations or condolences. So, when you win the Pillsbury Bake-Off or want to announce your new show on Food TV, drop us a PM and we'll help you spread the news!

That yellow one sounds like a bad take on South Carolina mustard-based sauce.

Good idea. Meanwhile: is the meat supercold when you put it on? If it's already warm then it's likely to fall off more quickly.

Click here for the web page. Oyster Guy (or anyone else who's in the know), what are the criteria on which contestants are judged? I'm fascinated by this!

Sauce report, if you please.

Hi James. Great to have you here. I'll start with the question-peppering. You've read the criticism above about some of the turns that the magazine has taken lately. Can you let us know what sorts of things you expect to maintain come hell or high water, and what sorts of changes we can look forward to in coming months? (This long-time subscriber is hopeful that you'll not have air-guitar-playing chefs on the cover any time soon, by the by.)

Sandy, I think that was good old Clifton Fadiman.

Resto.

Dave, that paté seems fantastic. How many cups of paté did you create? I'm trying to figure out the right sized mold.